Every person in his life has encountered the problem of pain in the head. A symptom can appear for various reasons and have a different nature of pain. Today, many people suffer from the so-called psychogenic headaches. This condition is directly related to hypochondria, depression and stress. Often, the disease occurs on a nervous basis, and in some cases requires immediate intervention by specialists.
Headache
Most often, a headache is caused by the expansion or narrowing of blood vessels outside or inside the skull. The pain sensation covers various areas, such as eyebrows, neck, eyelids, occipital part, eyelids, forehead, creating obvious discomfort.
Types of disease
Pain in the head can be caused by the following ailments:
- Migraine.
- Headache of tension (psychogenic pain).
- Cluster headache.
- Pain provoked by infections.
- Sinus pain.
- Craniocerebral disorders.
Migraine is one of the most unpleasant sensations. The first manifestation of this disease is severe throbbing pain in the head and nausea. Minor symptoms of migraine are intolerance to bright light and pungent odors. Most often, such attacks occur in women aged 25 to 35 years and last a long time (up to three days).
The next variety is the so-called tension headache. This type of seizure in humans is most common. The occurrence of pain is provoked by prolonged psycho-emotional stress. At the same time, a person has muscle pressure, a feeling of fatigue, not a sharp, but pressing pain in the forehead and back of the head.
Cluster headache. Attacks of the disease are accompanied by severe unilateral pulsating pains in the forehead and eyes. The duration of pain is from 30 minutes to two hours and can be repeated several times a day. In the absence of treatment for this disease, attacks cause swelling of the mucous membrane, redness of the eye area and tearing. Cluster pain mainly affects middle-aged men.
There are headaches caused by viral infections. For example, with flu diseases, pain is observed in the frontal and temporal parts of the head. Separately, you can highlight the pulling pain with meningitis while tilting the head down. A pulsating acute pain in the forehead is characteristic.
The next type of pain is sinus pain. In patients, the head begins to hurt with swelling of the nasal mucosa. This type is characterized by pain in the face and paranasal region.
Cranial disorders in the body can be caused by intracranial hypertension. Change of health is accompanied by very severe headaches, and, as a result, vomiting. As a rule, a person experiences “pressing” sensations over the entire surface of the skull.
Psychalgia and its varieties
Today, psychalgia, or imaginary pain, is the most common disease. Psychalgia is a type of pain that depends only on the psychoemotional background of a person. Pain occurs in the head, stomach, heart, and back. Four types of illness are defined in medicine: cardialgia, psychogenic headache, dorsalgia and abdominalgia.
Cardialgia The disease occurs with vegetovascular dystonia and is accompanied by tingling in the heart.
Psychogenic headache. This type is characterized by inevitable pain in the head. Most often, this type of stress affects less stress-tolerant, emotional and suspicious people, who are often subjected to mental stress.
Dorsalgia (back pain). This type of psychalgia affects people who are inherent to provoke interpersonal conflicts.
Abdominalgia, or "nerve stomach." This mental illness is peculiar in manifestation. In this case, a person has diarrhea and bloating for some time. Usually arises during strong experiences before important events.
Tension headache
The psychogenic headache, the symptoms of which are found in every third, worries many today. It is also called a headache of muscle tension, which periodically occurs in 70% of people. This is a chronic pain that occurs on its own, regardless of the presence of additional diseases. The feeling of "tightening with a tight hoop" or a pronounced tingling sensation is felt during contraction of the muscles of the skull and face. At the same time, the back muscles of the cervical zone are tensed.
This symptom is not pulsating. Basically, there is a kind of “squeezing” in different areas of the head, which block the access of oxygen to muscle tissue. Sometimes appears, as a result of psychogenic headache, double vision. A painful feeling can last more than one day, but hold on even for several weeks, causing a state of anxiety. In this case, damage to the brain or blood vessels in patients is not observed.
Varieties of psychogenic pain
To date, there are two subgroups of this syndrome: chronic pain and episodic. Recent pains can last for several hours with intervals of up to 7-14 days, while chronic pains are observed much more often throughout the day. Usually painful sensations appear in both halves of the head, but can also be one-sided. Symptoms of psychogenic headaches can occur in both women and men of all ages. They arise as a result of emotional outbursts, psychological conflicts, negative events, hysteria and various neuroses.
Causes of psychogenic pain
According to medical reviews, psychogenic headache occurs with mental disorders and lack of attention. In this situation, the patient complains of mental state and shares the accumulated negativity with a psychologist. With the help of this syndrome, a person is trying to get the opportunity to manipulate in order to get what he wants.
In people with chronic depression, pain is considered an external defense reaction. Mental impulses alleviate feelings of shame, guilt, unfulfillment in life, mental suffering, and others. Masked depression often leads to suicide and intense mental anguish.
Symptoms
Clinical studies show that people with psychogenic headaches cannot give a specific description of their feelings. Some patients complain of pressing and aching pain that compresses the skull, while others speak of pulsating movements in different parts of the head.
Note that the nature of the pain can change over time. Most often, the following symptoms accompany patients:
- Tachycardia (change in heart rate).
- Trembling.
- Labored breathing.
- Mood swings.
- Focus on your feelings.
- Demand for attention.
Nature of sensations
Psychogenic headache is quite unpleasant. It can be bilateral, manifest in the occipital-parietal and frontal zones. The nature of the pain has a peculiar pattern: the pain can be aching, monotonous, dull or oppressive. Unpleasant sensations in the head area are moderate, not too intense, but cause discontent, sometimes bitterness. In turn, there is a deterioration in appetite and isolation in oneself.
Psychalgia and children
Psychogenic headache, the causes of which are carefully examined by doctors, can occur in young children and affect the personality. It is easiest to injure the children's psyche, it is enough to provoke an acute situation. After conducting various tests among children, psychologists say that pain is most often caused by conflicts in the school and family. The formation of ailments in children generally depends on what the parents originally put in the child. Negativity, anxiety, resentment and guilt will negatively affect the behavior of a child in society.
As a rule, in the afternoon symptoms of psychogenic headache appear. The reasons can also be due to overwork, stress and a long stay in a stuffy room. Fatigue, sweating, irritability, crying and even vomiting are observed. More often than not, children cannot explain exactly where they feel pain. Usually the whole head, frontal part and frontotemporal hurts. Painful feelings last for several hours and pass after a change of scenery or rest. An important factor is a healthy sleep.
Therapies
Symptoms of psychogenic headache and treatment of the disease are issues that are of interest to many very often. But self-diagnosis is strongly discouraged. Only timely actions by doctors can prevent the dire consequences and bring a person out of a depressed state. In this case, medical assistance is carried out only with the full consent of the patient. If the patient has contradictions and does not have a desire to improve his condition, then it is not worth interfering.
Drug treatment is best done in a hospital under the supervision of a doctor. Most often, the patient is prescribed a course of psychotherapy and taking antidepressants (these drugs contain substances that improve the functioning of the pain system). In more complex cases, patients are prescribed a hypnosis session and a full head examination using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Also in medicine, methods of physiotherapeutic treatment are used for psychogenic headache. In neurology, electrophoresis, acupuncture, manual therapy and other methods are actively used. Such methods have a positive effect on muscle tissue and contribute to better blood supply.
Folk methods
There is a category of people who refuse to take medication pills and prefer to be treated only with folk remedies. In this case, there are several ways to alleviate a psychogenic headache without leaving your apartment.
Often advised to use various teas. For example, tea with lemon balm, mint, lemon and honey. Melissa has a positive effect on the nervous system and gives a calming effect. Peppermint tea is suitable for people with chronic headaches. The drink dilates the blood vessels of the brain and suppresses even the most painful sensations. Tea with lemon and honey reduces the duration of the headache.
However, there are other methods of disposal. For example, rubbing temples with lemon peels, mint leaves, garlic juice. You can lubricate your forehead with menthol or lavender oils, put ice compresses.
Finally
Today, doctors often come across clients who complain of pain in the head area. As you can see, the most common problem was psychogenic headache. This syndrome can occur at an early age due to the incorrect approach of parents to raising a child. Treatment is necessary for people who are in a depressed depression. Neglected forms of psychogenic pain can lead to suicidal consequences.